The “Verena McBee Quartet” will give a sneak peak into her upcoming album “U-PHORIA” with all compositions by Grammy Award winning bassist Cecil McBee–
The album's tunes will be performed in great company with composers such as Charlie Parker, Theloneous Monk, the Gershwin brothers, Friedrich Hollaender, contemporary composer Ellen Mandel, along with Verena’s originals & some touching and entertaining arrangements also written by the vocalist.

"Verena McBee is a powerful and very expressive singer with a wide range.
Born and raised in Germany, she was classically trained and had a busy career working as an actress.
Since moving to New York in 2007, she has developed into a fine jazz singer and appeared in many venues, generally in the New York area." - Scott Yanow, Jazz Journalist / Historian / Author

Exiled German-born drummer Jochen Rueckert presents his
working quartet. The band from New York City plays Jochen's compositions containing surprisingly more
optimistically swinging sections rich with chords than one would expect from a teutonic
drummer, sprinkled with the occasional 3/8 bar for good measure.
Jochen's deliberate avoidance of formal music education, albeit initially for budgetary reasons,
provides a great lack of erudite nonsense in his writing.
Jochen is celebrating his 4th album, titled "Charm Offensive" (Pirouet records, 2016).

"Melodies that have a habit of insinuating themselves deep in your head"-- Downbeat

Concept Lab is a new experimental music series that gives composers and performers space to push boundaries and genre limitations. Inspired by the Mills College scene in the 1960's which gave the world the Kronos Quartet and the music of Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Pauline Oliveros, to name a few, Concept Lab is a creative crucible out of which we seek to forge a new music.

Hailing from South Brazil, Gaia Wilmer is a saxophone player, composer and arranger who
combines her influences from Brazilian harmony, rhythms, and melodies with
contemporary jazz and free improvised music.

Brooklyn-based vocalist/composer Jocelyn Medina presents an intimate set of original music, jazz and Brazilian repertoire. The performance will feature material from her latest album, Common Ground, fusing jazz harmonies with raga-based melodies from India and polyrhythms from Africa. As a storyteller, Medina’s lyrics recount personal experiences that reflect universal themes and a socially conscious worldview, affirming through both music and words the theme of our shared commonality. Filling out her trio are long-time band mates and recording ensemble players Pete McCann (guitar) and Evan Gregor (bass).

"The pianist Anat Fort’s compositions move with a rolling, languorous grace, allowing light to enter from
different angles. Undertones of the blues crop up briefly, often tossed into an impressionist thicket of
arpeggios and wandering lines. Her most recent album, “Birdwatching,” on ECM, features the Italian clarinetist
Gianluigi Trovesi; it’s a subtle triumph.” The NY Times

Anat Fort returns to Cornelia Strest Cafe with a new quartet featuring Michael Attias on Saxophone, Gary
Wang on bass and Rudy Royston on drums.
They will be exploring Fort’s compositions as well as the composition of Paul Motian.

Michèle LaRue returns with two vibrant, vintage "Tales Well Told: Stories From America's Gilded Age" writers. She tours nationally with a repertoire of 30 Tales, but the Cafe--her New York performance home for more than two decades--holds a special place in her heart.

The Bedquilt: Dorothy Canfield Fisher’s suspenseful tale of a spinster’s astonishing art:
"She never knew how her great idea came to her ... so beautifully difficult a pattern
could be only for the angels in heaven to quilt."

WITH

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s lively A Quilting Bee in Our Village:
"One Sometimes wonders if it will ever be possible in our village to attain absolute rest
and completion with regard to ... quilts."

Indie jazz orchestra The Delegation is the brainchild of pianist/composer Gabriel Zucker. Combining an array of disparate influences into a unique and emotionally immediate sound, The Delegation has performed throughout the Northeast, Canada, and Europe, and Zucker’s compositions for the group have received awards from ASCAP and the American Composers Forum JFund grant. The group’s singular musical philosophy has been profiled at length by the Ottawa Citizen, Jazz Gallery, and the American Composers Forum. The group's debut record, Evergreen (Canceled World), was awarded 4.5 stars in Downbeat and 4 stars in All About Jazz.

At the Cornelia St Cafe, the group premieres a new trio arrangement of music from the band's forthcoming sophomore release, Leftover Beats From The Edges Of Time, in advance of a six-country tour in March.